Local group expands to help all east valley youth

POSTED: 05:19 PM PDT May 21, 2013 UPDATED: 05:31 PM PDT May 21, 2013

INDIO, Calif. -

The former Indio Youth Task Force got a new name and a larger mission.

"In changing to the Coachella Valley Community Trust, what their overall goal was to do is expand and diversify to focus on youth development, health services, and job skills training to help all of the east valley, not just Indio," Allison Fedrick of the Coachella Valley Community Trust said.

It also has a home on Dr. Carreon boulevard in Indio.

"We never really had a location, we were always out of the Indio Police Department, and you know how it's a busy place. Now we have our own operation and a place where anyone can come from kids to non-profit organizers," Fedrick said.

The Indio Youth Task Force began in 1994 when the Indio Police Department saw the need for greater community giving in Indio. The organization worked with local non-profit groups, and will continue to do so.

"Our mission is to foster productive and responsible young people through affective community collaborations," Fedrick said.

The new vision lets the group reach out to more young people. Some past financial complications further fueled the need for change. Fedrick tells us a grant writer took advantage of the formerly volunteer-run organization.

"A grant writer, who actually is in prison now, she ended up writing herself into the grant in order to have a larger percentage," Fedrick said.

With that in the past, and with an employee on board to help direct the group, it can move forward.

"One of the ideas we have bubbling is to look at job skills and training for high school students to help them get a living wage," Fedrick said.